OUR HISTORY

The group CANTATIERRA was founded in Ibagué in 1985 by young artists interested in the research and dissemination of traditional regional music from Tolima and Colombia. In its first stage, CANTATIERRA assumed the realization of meetings of Tolima's rural music with the aim of compiling musical material from primary sources (Chaparral 1985 -2005, Falan - Palocabildo, 1993). 

Cantatierra was a member of the International Federation of Musical Youth, as a base group for Colombia. In 1985 it made its first international tour in Canada as a structured group of folk music. From then on, the group carried out an intense work of diffusion, performing more than 80 concerts a year in different cities of Colombia and universities, at regional and national level. 

The study on the life and work of the composer Cantalicio Rojas González was published in 1993 in Ibagué by the researcher Humberto Galindo, recording a disc with a compilation of the reeds and other unpublished works of the composer. 

Thanks to a grant from the Fondo Mixto de Cultura del Tolima, Cantatierra developed the musical production of the research project Mujeres protagonistas en la Música del Tolima, by researcher Humberto Galindo. This production compiled the musical work of the composers Leonor Buenaventura de Valencia, Isabel Chava Rubio and Blanca Álvarez de Parra. 

n the Nineties, Cantatierra carried out pedagogical work in different companies in Ibagué, such as the National Federation of Coffee Growers, Electrolima, ICA, Comersa, Industrias Aliadas, Telecom, among others, which allowed him to carry out artistic processes in the area of music, with children, young people and multipliers in rural areas. With the Social Foundation articulated the project "Music for life" aimed at families relocated from the Combeima disaster in vulnerable sectors of Ibagué.  

Cantatierra has advised pedagogical projects of various educational institutions and developed musical programs for children and youth, forming groups that reached a high level of representation in regional and national events. Participating in the formation of traditional music schools through agreements with Municipal Houses of Culture of Tolima in agreement with the Ministry of Culture and the Fondo Mixto de Cultura del Tolima; among them are the Encuentros de Música Campesina del sur del Tolima, held in Chaparral Tolima, with the discographic production of the same.

CANTATIERRA has performed in the most outstanding Colombian stages such as La Sala Luis Ángel Arango, The León de Greiff auditorium, the Colombo American Center in Bogotá, Cali and Medellín, and in the main Universities of the country; likewise, with its work it has toured most of the towns of the Department of Tolima. As a guest group, it has participated in the Festivals “Mono Nuñez”, Cotrafa, Colombian Folk Festival and National Colombian Music Festival, and has received the Order of the Pacandé of the Municipality of Natagaima in recognition of the dissemination of the work of Cantalicio Rojas González. Cantatierra has represented Colombia on international stages in Canada, Germany, the United States and Cuba.

From 2014 to 2019 CANTATIERRA was operator of the early childhood program Desarrollo Infantil En Medio Familiar of the ICBF, standing out for its pedagogical work in the artistic area. From these programs has led to the early musical initiation of early childhood and community mothers to establish bonds of sensitivity for the regional culture from the directed listening and practice with traditional instruments of Tolima.

Among its members of various generations are mentioned: Humberto Galindo (director), Nubia Mafla, Raúl Galindo, Carmelita Millán de Benavides, Maria Dioumnice Cartagena, Maria Eugenia Arteaga, Diana Andrade, José Honorato Cordero, Nathaly Robledo, Piedad García, Guillermo Morales, Rodrigo Hernández, David Vargas, Erika Andrea Nieto, César Augusto Gómez,Iván Acosta, Jorge Humberto Jiménez, Carlos Pardo, Daniel Viña, and Carolina Mesa.

MISSION AND VISION